Which diet is the healthiest?

4 Oct

In today's world, misinformation about nutrition is everywhere. Social media, podcasts, and even well-meaning friends can make it hard to know what’s truly best for our health. It feels like every week there's a new “perfect diet” promising to change our lives. But with so much conflicting information, it can be tough to figure out what’s actually good for us.

It’s important to remember that long-term good nutritional choices can significantly improve our health and quality of life, while poor choices may increase the risk of diseases later in life (1). So, what is the healthiest diet? Is there even such a thing?

What Makes a Diet Healthy?

When we talk about a healthy diet, we’re looking for a few core principles that are pretty widely accepted in the nutrition world (1):

A variety of nutrient-dense foods to give the body all the vitamins and minerals it needs
Energy intake that’s balanced to maintain a healthy body weight
Minimal amounts of saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol that can negatively impact cardiovascular health
Prioritising high-fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains

The Australian Dietary Guidelines offers the following guidelines, outlining what a healthy diet should include (2):

Eat plenty of vegetables, legumes, and beans
Eat fruits of all kinds
Consume grain and cereal foods, ideally whole grain varieties
Eat lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts, seeds, legumes, and beans
Dairy in the form of milk, yoghurt, cheese, and alternatives, is healthy but should mostly be in reduced fat forms
Limit foods high in saturated fats, like biscuits, cakes, pastries, pies, processed meats, and fried foods
Replace foods high in saturated fat with poly- and monounsaturated fats, like avocado, nuts, and olive oil
Watch and limit your salt intake
Limit foods with added sugars
Avoid excessive alcohol consumption

To further support this general advice and guidelines, specific meta-analyses are available to add to the literature on specific dietary elements to support health, such as:

Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption (3, 4, 5)
Eating whole grains (6)
Consuming Omega-3 fatty acids (7, 8)
Reducing salt intake (9, 10)
Limiting excessive alcohol (11, 12)
Cutting down on processed foods (13)
Avoiding trans fats (14) and saturated fats (15)

Can Any Diet Be Healthy?

What makes nutrition both fascinating and confusing is that you can probably find a study supporting the health benefits of just about any diet. For example:

The point here is that almost every diet has some evidence to support its efficacy in some capacity. It’s easy to pick out studies that highlight the benefits of each eating approach, which can make it feel like any diet could be the “right one.” This brings us to an important question—if there’s a study supporting every diet, is there really one that’s perfect for everyone?

So, Which Diet is The Healthiest?

The short answer is that there isn’t one perfect or healthiest diet. The perfect diet is the one that works best for you and helps you maintain your best version of health, both physically and mentally. Food plays such a huge role in our lives beyond just nutrition—it’s a part of our culture, our relationships, and even our memories. Whether it’s sharing a meal with family, trying out new cuisines, carb-loading before a marathon, catching up with a friend over coffee, or having an extra slice of your nan’s famous dessert.

When it comes to weight loss or other specific health goals, any diet can work, but only if it’s sustainable for you. For example, if you’re trying the ketogenic diet but you dislike high-fat foods and miss your favorite carbs, it’s probably not going to be something you can stick with long-term. That’s where individual context comes into play. What works for your friend may not work for you, and that’s perfectly okay. Finding a diet that fits your lifestyle, preferences, and goals is key to long-term success. Often that’s where a professional can help.

Important Note: Restrictive Diets Require Extra Care

A crucial point I often hear from evidence-based nutrition professionals is that “the more restrictive the diet, the more carefully structured and planned it needs to be, and the less applicable it is to different situations.”

Think about someone who’s both vegan and gluten-free, and happens to be an athlete. Being gluten-free limits a lot of convenient high-carb snacks they could have relied on for performance and recovery. On top of that, being vegan cuts out some excellent protein and nutrient-rich animal products. In this case, they need to be extra careful with their diet, making sure they’re getting enough carbohydrates, protein, and overall calories, possibly through whole grains, pulses, and maybe even supplements to fill in the gaps. The more restrictive the diet is, the more planning and forethought it will require, especially if you're juggling specific lifestyle needs.

Final Note

At the end of the day, it’s easy to find a study or expert that backs up any diet as the “best.” But the truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition. What’s most important is understanding your own personal context, your preferences, and your lifestyle. There are so many dietary patterns that can support good health, and the right one for you is the one that fits seamlessly into your life, keeps you feeling your best, and is sustainable in the long run.

Ultimately, the healthiest diet is the one that doesn’t just meet your nutritional needs and physical health, but also makes you feel good mentally and emotionally—one that allows you to enjoy food, social experiences, and life as a whole. That’s the kind of diet that will create long term success for you.

References

Zac Egan

Which diet is the healthiest?

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